A group of emergency workers from the local branch of the Russian Ministry of Emergency Situations went to the epicentre

ABAKAN, December 22, 1:29 /ITAR-TASS/. A group of emergency workers from the local branch of the Russian Ministry of Emergency Situations went to the epicentre of an earthquake that rocked Khakassia, a republic in South Siberia, particularly in the settlements of Lukyanovka and Gerasimovka, chief press officer of the republican emergency situation department Irina Butenko told Itar-Tass on Sunday.

In her words, local residents do not have any reasons for panics. The Sayano-Shushenskaya hydroelectric power plant and other life-supporting facilities work in the routine mode, the main pipelines of energy infrastructure and other public utilities also operate without any breakdowns.

Khakassia’s leader Viktor Zimin decided to use the civil defence warning system for informing people.

“The heads of municipal entities in Khakassia, primarily the big cities, have also taken the measures for the timely informing of the local population. The municipal television channels have broadcast the information about the seismic event on the news ticker,” Butenko added.

The Siberian republic turned out to be in the earthquake zone. The underground tremors were felt not only in Khakassia, but also in neighbouring Krasnoyarsk Territory and Kemerovo Region.

The earthquake measured 4.6 points on the open-ended Richter scale has occurred in Altai district of the Republic of Khakassia, 50 kilometres south of the republican centre of Abakan, overnight to Sunday.

The Krasnoyarsk scientific-research institute of geology and mineral resources noted that the earthquake had occurred at 01:51 local time on Sunday (21:51 Moscow time on Saturday). The earthquake registered about 6 on the MSK-64 scale.